Cincinnati has been in the playoffs four times in the past eight years. Why does that sound wrong? Why does that not command more respect? Possibly because each of those four times, the Bengals have swiftly exited via an unwatchable loss. The best you can say about this one is at least it wasn’t by multiple scores, which was the case with the previous three. The Texans were practically begging for an upset today. Great job not getting A.J. Green involved until the second half. Andy Dalton is awful. Way to miss an open receiver on 3rd down then check down on a 4th and 11 with the game on the line. It’s nice to have two Joe Flaccos in the AFC North.

Watching the game with friends was like being on the deck of the Titanic when the iceberg is straight ahead. You know the ship should start turning, but the people at the helm are too busing eye-humping Kate Winslet to turn the wheel.